25 Best Thanksgiving Cookie Recipes

Intricate Thanksgiving desserts are always a wonderful, awe-inspiring sight. But Thanksgiving cookies are a nice break from the stress of more strenuous holiday cooking. 

They always taste great, frequently look adorable, and are typically easy to make.

Take the cute little turkeys above, for example. They’re simply peanut butter cookies with candy corn tails stuck on with icing.

They have peanut butter cup bodies and colorful frosting piped on for the feet and nose. And how stinking adorable are those candy eyes?!

Of course, Thanksgiving cookies don’t always have to be elaborate. Here are some of my other favorites.

20+ Easy Thanksgiving Cookies

1. Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

Sometimes, all you need to make perfect holiday cookies is to slightly tweak a classic recipe. These, for example, are delicious sugar cookies with a twist.

The twist is adding fall-forward spices to the batter and covering the cookies in a decadent pumpkin spice icing.

It transforms regular old sugar cookies into a beloved Thanksgiving dessert.

2. Peanut Butter Blossoms Cookie Recipe

I like to provide my guests with many choices when they come over. Nothing is better for doing that than a table full of cookies.

They’re great for snacking, finger-food friendly, and a hit with kids and grown-ups alike.

I love these because they’re super soft, delicious, and a breeze to decorate. Just pop a Hershey’s Kiss in the middle, and voila!

You can even use different flavored Kisses!

3. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

Whoopie pies are a joy to make and eat, and I love their versatility. Like French macarons, you can make them in many different colors and flavors.

But since we’re talking about Thanksgiving, it only seems right to go for pumpkin.

To make yours perfect, go ahead and grab a whoopie pie tin. Then, make the whoopie pies with pumpkin spice in the cakes and salted caramel in the cream. 

4. Lemon Cranberry Cookies

Many Thanksgiving cookie recipes are overly sweet and full of cinnamon, pumpkin, and similar fall flavors. These are different.

They feature a tart, tangy taste that goes more for brightness than saccharine sweetness.

Between the cranberries and the lemon, there’s plenty of that brightness to go around. Don’t worry, though.

The confectioners’ sugar in the glaze dulls the tartest edges.

5. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

I know oatmeal cookies can be a hard sell sometimes, but I think they’re perfect for fall. It’s not just the spices (a must during the holidays).

It’s their fantastic texture! The crispy edges enhance the chewy middle, and the pops of real apple throughout are delightful.

If you’re worried they won’t be sweet enough, throw a few toffee bits into the dough.

6. Pecan Pie Cookies

Can we all agree that pecan pie is one of the best fall pies?

Between the buttery pastry and devilishly sweet filling, it’s impossible to stop at just one slice. But how do you incorporate all that goodness into a cookie?

Simple! Just use this recipe for pecan pie cookies. They’re like two awesome Thanksgiving desserts meshed into one.

7. Nutter Butter Turkey Cookies

If there’s one thing you won’t ever regret buying, it’s these hilarious candy eyes. Trust me; your little turkeys will love them!

Between those and the ready-to-go decorations, you don’t even have to turn the oven on to make these holiday cookies! 

If you have someone with allergies or don’t like Nutter Butters, Milano cookies would make the perfect alternative. 

8. Caramel Apple Cookies

Looking for Thanksgiving treats that look as terrific as they taste? Try these stunning cookies.

They’re loaded with the flavors of caramel apple, cream cheese, brown sugar, and rich, warm spices. But that’s not the best part.

I mean, seriously! Just look at these gorgeous cookies. They look like something a 5-star bakery would charge 6$ a piece for! Your guests will LOVE them.

9. Thanksgiving Oreo Turkey Cookies Recipe

This is probably the most kid-friendly recipe on the list. All they’ll have to do is stick the candy corn in the filling around the edges.

I put out a ton of different flavors, including different colors of candy corn, and we always get some pretty unique birds on the table.

These are extra fun if you buy bigger candy eyes or the ones with eyelashes.

10. Apple Pie Cookies

The pecan pie cookies above are excellent for Thanksgiving. But so are these apple pie cookies. They, too, combine two fall favorites in one.

They’re definitely cookies, but they’re also like miniature apple pies.

And yes, they DO include REAL apples, as well as cinnamon, brown sugar, and everything else that makes apple pie great.

In short, they’re awesome.

11. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It may seem strange, but I always add dark chocolate chips to my pumpkin bread.

The flavors complement each other well, and the chocolate’s bitterness adds another level of enjoyment to the mix.

So, naturally, these pumpkin and chocolate cookies are a huge hit in my house. They’re very chewy cookies with a delightfully dense crumb.

12. Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

We’ve had a lot of pumpkin spice on here, so it’s time for something different!

Cranberry and pistachio go hand in hand in both color contrast and flavor.

I adore the vibrant chewiness of the cranberries with the nutty crunch you get from the pistachios.

And what’s more Thanksgiving than cranberries?!

Want to push these over the edge? Try adding some orange zest to the dough.

13. Sweet Potato Cookies

Sweet potato is such a fantastic ingredient. You can use it in anything from pies to tacos.

In this case, it’s the base ingredient for delicious, ooey-gooey cookies. Cookies, by the way, that don’t have as much sugar or fat as some other cookie recipes.

That’s because the sweet potato naturally provides both sweetness and moisture to your cookies.

Not a fan of dark chocolate? Try peanut butter chips instead.

14. Peanut Butter Acorn Cookies

When picturing Thanksgiving cookie recipes, people always think about pumpkins and turkeys. But acorns are another festive idea.

These simple peanut butter cookies feature an acorn shape and are covered in chocolate and fall sprinkles.

They’re spectacularly easy to make, too. You’ll only need six ingredients and about 30 minutes.

15. Easy Thanksgiving Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread is buttery, crumbly, and impossible to resist. It’s one of the best and easiest cookie recipes you can make.

You don’t really need any glaze or frosting on top, either. Shortbread cookies have tons of flavor on their own.

That said, a little frosting never hurt anyone!

This marble effect might look complicated, but it’s just a matter of making a controlled mess. You can totally do it.

16. Colorful Leaf Cookies

Speaking of controlled messes, these cookies are another excellent kid-friendly activity.

You’ll start with one basic cookie recipe that gets split and colored. Again, it may look difficult, but it’s surprisingly simple.

Plus, the recipe gives you tons of great tips to ensure you do everything correctly. Just give it a try.

You’ll be surprised by the result, and your guests will adore the colorful treats.

17. Day After Thanksgiving Cookies

Opening the fridge to leftovers can be exhausting after a couple of days.

So, if you want a recipe to use up that cranberry sauce, this one’s for you!

These chewy cookies are oaty and spiced, and the cranberry sauce gives such a nice tartness to the mix.

If you have leftover pecans, they’ll make these even better.

18. Raspberry Pecan Linzer Cookies

Making cookies for Thanksgiving doesn’t just have to be about the kiddos at your holiday table.

These raspberry pecan Linzer cookies are elegant and absolutely adult-appropriate. They look, taste, and even smell incredible, and everyone will love them.

19. Butterscotch Cookies

Soft and chewy with crispy edges and a ridiculous amount of sweet butterscotch flavor. That’s what you’ll get from these phenomenal cookies.

You’ll make them from scratch with fewer than ten ingredients in just 30 minutes. Homemade dessert recipes don’t get much simpler than that.

20. Pumpkin Almond Cookies

These little cookies absolutely blew my mind the first time I saw them. They genuinely look like little pumpkins!

They also have a robust pumpkin spice flavor to go with their adorable shapes. They take some time to get right, but they’re absolutely worth it.

Prepare them for your next holiday party, and give your guests something new to talk about.

21. Thanksgiving Cookies

These are so clever, and you can modify them with whatever candies you want. 

When buying the Bugles, be sure to grab the caramel kind, not the ranch! They wouldn’t be too tasty on top of Golden Oreos and icing. 

I think the fall-colored M&Ms work super well for this, but like I said, you can go nuts with whatever candy you like. It’s a cornucopia, after all!

22. Honey Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

There’s a lot to love about these decadent Thanksgiving cookies. That’s evident just by reading the name.

They’re sweetened with honey and overflowing with rich, gooey chocolate chips. Give them a try, even if you HATE oatmeal cookies.

I promise, if you didn’t make the cookies yourself, you wouldn’t even know the oats were there.

23. Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

When it comes to melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin cookies, these take the cake!

The dough is so light and fluffy that it’ll jump up like cream puffs if you don’t press it a little.

The cream cheese frosting is (literally and figuratively) just icing on the cake — or, in this case, cookies.

24. Snickerdoodles

I like a nice sugar cookie as much as the next baker, but sometimes they just need a little kick.

What’s better than a spiced sugar coating of cinnamon?

Always roll your cookies twice in the cinnamon sugar mix to ensure every bite has that beautiful warmth.

I even press them slightly in the bowl to give them as much coating as possible.

25. Ginger Spiced Molasses Cookies

These cookies are pretty intense between the sweet molasses, spicy ginger, and warm cinnamon.

They’re dark and cracked on top, which looks terrific, but they’re so chewy in the middle! It’s really baking magic when you break open one of these.

If you want to make them extra spicy, use freshly grated ginger instead.